


Fluttering [d]reams

by Yoko_Taro_Fan



Series: Misplaced Puppets [5]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24100927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoko_Taro_Fan/pseuds/Yoko_Taro_Fan
Summary: Sorry for taking so long, but I am right now completely revamping Nightmar[e]s and editing the others.There is another one in the works, so hopefully I’ll be able to get them up soon!
Relationships: 2B & 9S (NieR: Automata)
Series: Misplaced Puppets [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661269
Kudos: 6





	Fluttering [d]reams

It started with one gift, lifetimes ago.

2B stepped out of the shadows of her own room.

“Thanks, 2B! I love it!”

Nines’ voice rang out through the stale air like a ray of sunlight as she lifted the wooden instrument out of the metal case it sat in, insulated from the elements.

It was a violin. The bow was still taunt, the strings somehow still in pristine condition. It looked like it was fresh out of assembly, and yet really old. The antique was radiant, with each layer of varnish clinging onto the frame. 

“Oh! That reminds me.” She sat down in her room, pulling a flower out of a vase she had next to her desk. “I think 6O would be jealous.” 9S leaned in, whispering in her ear.

“What is this?” 2B asked, more confused than anything. 

“It’s a flower. A Lunar Tear, specifically. These are supposedly really rare! I had to search for days to find this one.” She smiled, sending shockwaves through 2B’s black box.

The 4 white petals reflected the white light of the Bunker back to her eyes like the moon. She flipped it over, surprised by the tiny little ‘circuits’ embroidered into the back of each petal. Each one radiated with bluish-white sparks, flashing in 2B’s eyes with a warm glow.

“Thank you, 9S, but I need to...” 2B’s back was already turned, closing her eyes as the disappointed sigh smacked her ears again. 

The door shut with a vengeance as she was left in the dark again.

If only it could have lasted longer.

* * *

They were separated for the next two weeks. At least, that’s what 2B’s internal clock told her. It felt like purgatory.

Nines was held on the Bunker, imprisoned in the remote hacking sector of the Bunker, toiling every day just only to fail on the first barrier. She hated the kick, the sick feeling she had every time she got booted out of the network, and the dull, numbing pain that pervaded her limbs after sitting in the chair for so long.

2B was imprisoned on Earth. The machines wouldn’t give her a break, popping up in areas she had just cleared. The burden of war was proving heavy, having to not only just kill the machines but deal with the ever-increasing demoralised androids. More and more YoRHa were deserting, and she couldn’t completely blame them.

Their forlorn pleas and dejected, raving curses still echo in her head to this day.

2B and 9S had fallen into a pattern, a cycle, a relief. 

After each, long, arduous day, they would talk. Not about the war. Not about the violent brutal truth that she chose to ignore. Not the unending drag of life and impending death that hung over their head each day. 

Some of their conversations lasted so long, that 153 would force 9S into rest mode, making her rise awake some mornings slumped over her desk, the violin still in her vision, checking the time in front of her and sighing as the work notifications poured in.

In her free time, she picked it up. The same piece of wood she hadn’t thought about for an entire week. Days passed quickly like the rotations of the Bunker to maintain the fake gravity. 

So, the first time 2B couldn’t make the time to talk to her, she shrugged it off, marking it up to the influx of machines she had heard reports of.

It happened again. And again. And again. The clutch she had relied on was kicked from underneath her, and the spiral began.

Hopelessness bit at the edges of her life, eating at her. Mocking her through the blinding, dead lights that lined the halls and killing her through the same routine.

She sleep-walked into hacking into the Bunker. 153 blared warnings into her ears, but she couldn’t hear any of them.

At that point she didn’t really care. At least she should know the truth.

Firewalls stood in her way, but she walked through them, opening up the first document she came across. 

“A list of models? Why would that require a clearance only the Commander has?

There’s the G type, B type, A type, S type, D type… What type is that? E type?”

She opened another document.

“E types are designated Executioners, designed to kill deserters and units that access sensitive information within the Bunker? There’s a list of E units here.”

Her pod spoke up again. “Do not access that file. This will result in heavy sanctions.”

She paid no attention as her eyes lit up with life for the first time in days.

* * *

The order came through one terrible Monday morning. The storm had forced her inside, leaving her only to pace the small room she resided in.

Her own dejected sigh echoed through the supply unit as the display shone back with the same “No signal” that had tormented her for the past days. 9S must have been up there, in the Bunker, waiting for her to call her, sitting by her desk in anticipation.

The machines were intercepting all transmissions from the ground to the Bunker, so all connections had to have been severed for a short time until they could create a stronger algorithm.

That didn’t help her bad mood, though. She didn’t know it could get any worse. But work took precedent, and she walked outside back into the rain to the access point.

Buried underneath the landfill of mail, there was one small message, marked important and high clearance. She opened it with dread, and as she read it, she already knew what it was going to say. 

2B punched the wall with everything she had left, sending ripples through the weak concrete. The dilapidated building next to the access point shook with pain, staring back at her with its broken bricks and windowless window frames.

Anemone jumped up as the loud scream startled her from her lucid dreams. As she looked on from the tarp sheltering her from the rain, she saw 2B, looking down, shaking. Her head was in her hands, and she was leaning against the black vending machine, staring at the message through the tiny gaps between her gloved fingers.

Anemone walked over tentatively, pulling her hood over her head as the rain beat down mercilessly against the ground.

“Hey, uhh, 2B. Are you okay?”

“I...need to be alone for a while.”

2B walked back to the supply unit, keeping her back turned to Anemone. She slammed the door loudly, making the Lunar Tear drop back even further into its vase.

Back in the dark.

* * *

2B jogged over to the derelict building Nines was supposedly in. She was in no hurry; she dreaded it. Even drawing her sword felt like trying to pick up the weight of the world.

The sun blazed across the barren ground. Her vision was filled with gold and green as she looked of the windows, but she could only see the bloodstains covering her sword as she climbed the stairs.

Her ears pricked up as she got closer, catching something she couldn’t hear. The entrance of the building was up ahead, and Nines was on the roof.

2B walked up the stairs, each step taking forever as the air got slightly thinner. Her lungs burned with pain, but the sound of a violin reverberated slightly in her ears, bouncing off the concrete surrounding her. She paused for a second, before rushing up the stairs she was dragging her feet across. 

She climbed up to the roof. There Nines was, sitting in a chair, looking over the City Ruins, playing a violin, completely oblivious to her upcoming, untimely death behind her. 2B almost laughed out of misery; 9S was making it easy for her.

2B couldn’t take another step, she could barely breathe as Nines continued to play. The moment could never have left her memory even if she tried to erase it. 

Birds fluttered up to the rooftop as Nines played her last note. 

A single tear hit the floor, splashing against the cold concrete.

“I know who you truly are, 2E.

Before you kill me, Command has decided to let me live instead, on the basis that I do not leak the information I have.

Do you expect me to forgive you for what you’ve done?”

2B took a step forward, putting away her sword.

“I don’t. I’m...I’m sorry.”

Nines stood up, getting out of the chair, looking at 2B.

“I’ve asked for a different partner. You’ll be paired with another scanner.”

“9S, please don’t…”

2B begged, her voice shattering as she fell to her knees.

“Don’t talk to me ever again.”

Nines walked past 2B, going down the stairs, throwing the violin and bow in front of 2B.

She picked up the violin and bow, now in 4 pieces, bringing it with her as she ran to the edge, looking down, daring herself to jump down.

* * *

Another week passed as the storage unit she resided in was empty. Nothing felt the same. Even the sight of the sun, of clear blue skies, of the birds she so coveted, could not bring happiness to the void that plagued her. 

Anemone knocked multiple times, beseeching her to leave the supply unit, but she never got a response.

_How did I lose everything?_

As she summoned enough sanity, enough will left to open her email, another small message was there, hidden amongst the ever-increasing open tasks she was meant to do, the sea of work she was drowning in.

“9S has fallen in the line of duty. Full reset has been initiated and you will continue working with her.”

2B didn’t know how to feel. One side of her wanted to rejoice, to be again blessed with Nines, to be able to see her again, to watch her smile, to warm her heart all over again. 

The other side was still on that rooftop, stuck in despair as the curse was placed back upon her shoulders, mourning the loss of the beautiful fleeting moment they had together, unable to jump but unable to move on.

_A black bird hovered in front of her eyes, its’ yellow beak pointed accusingly at her as it flew up, high above, It flew higher and higher until even she couldn’t see it, high above the clouds._

_She was still alone, even to the end, in the dark._

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for taking so long, but I am right now completely revamping Nightmar[e]s and editing the others.
> 
> There is another one in the works, so hopefully I’ll be able to get them up soon!


End file.
